Twisted Sister

The chocolate-lemon cake

In July I was sooo excited because my sister and her family were coming to visit for a whole three weeks! Well I blinked and the three weeks disappeared and before I knew it, I was waving them goodbye with a huge lump in my throat. But we had SUCH a great time.

Making the cake

The day after Aunty Lollipop landed it was hubby Kal's birthday so that meant cake and pressies, so we set to work (actually the birthday boy made half of his own cake, let me explain....) When asked what sort of cake he wanted for his birthday, he happily replied that he wanted a lemon and chocolate cake! Gulp. Say what? I'm all for chocolate cake, but with lemon? Hmmm wasn't sure about that. So husband and wife set to work, Sis on the lemon and Kal on the chocolate, while I made dinner for twelve of us - it was a busy kitchen! And the cake turned out beautifully! Contrary to popular belief, swirled chocolate and lemon cake is divine. Did I mention that we ate a lot while they were here? Well we ate, A LOT.

The Car!

The rental car was hysterical. Identical to SA taxis. So Aunty Lollipop could do ANYTHING on the roads and nobody hooted or complained!

My bestie K was also visiting at the same time so I was in my element with all the overseas visitors. She phoned and asked what time I'd like to meet up with her on a certain day and I said "I want the whole day" haha so we all got together and went to Gold Reef City aka "child heaven." Kal noticed a printed sign on the cashier's window stating that their credit card machines were not working, which kinda makes you think that if they went to the effort of professionally printing a sign, they should just state "cash only" but that attracts criminals, so they obviously prefer the permanent sign mentioning the temporary situation. Welcome to Africa! We all had a blast, the kids rode on every possible ride, panned for gold, tried to win teddy bears and we had an "old western" photo taken of us which was pretty cool.

How many cousins fit on a trampoline?

A few days later cousin Phil and her two kids Logoff and Mistletoe flew up from Cape Town and we had a huge family lunch at the older cuzzies' house. These holidays were all about fun, family and friends and more fun. The following day we were off to the Drakensburg for 5 days. We took my car and the taxi and the kids alternated the seating arrangements every time we stopped. The kids had a blast (and the adults did too.) It was freezing but so beautiful. We arranged for our chalets to be next to each other and we walked the path flat between those two. The kids went horse riding, even Tomato who is super-allergic to animals. She loved her out ride so much that she wanted to go again! 

The Kiss

We peeked inside the hotel chapel and performed a mock wedding ceremony (I sang the wedding march) and Lettuce and his cousin tied the knot again, but this time in a church. Aunty Lollipop gave a lovely sermon. When we got outside the happy couple were supposed to kiss but they became shy so Lollipop and I were snapped showing them how by cousin Phil!

The "Quiet" Walk

After the guided walk to see the bushmen paintings, I went on a walk by myself because I love the quiet of the berg, but with 7 kids that was near impossible, so I ventured out alone. But before long I was joined by an entire entourage. They joined slowly but before long we were pretty much all on my "quiet" walk..... well except for Uncle Kal, who was busy catching the first fish that had been caught in the hotel trout dam in months. [note: there was no actual footage of said fish but apparently it was "this big" #justsaying] Brekkie was in the dining room every morning which was a huge hit, especially the hot chocolate machine. Yes, we ate a lot in the berg too. 

Pssst Cadbury
 this is what a REAL
block of choc looks like

Every night once the kids were in bed, someone would whip out a hidden choc and Lollipop would sneak away to our chalet to indulge. Lollipop and I are into green tea and we drank an entire box full while she was visiting although we forgot to take our teabags with us so we were forced to have Rooibos or coffee with our late night snacks. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the chocolate gene runs deep in our family, so cousin Phil and Logoff joined in on the feast. Logoff was quite entertaining explaining to us old folk the fascinating benefits of marijuana. He was so cute (ok he's 15 so he won't like being called cute) on the very first day he pulled out a buff which he gave to Lettuce and put it on his neck and showed him how to wear it. From that moment on Lettuce and Logoff were best friends and Lettuce was never far from his buff. He even slept in it.

Hitting the town

On the last night we bribed Logoff (with chocolate of course) to stay and babysit Lettuce and Mistletoe while us girls went to paint the town red. Ok it was one pub and we couldn't really paint it red, but what we lacked in painting skills, we made up with imagination. In the freezing cold we ordered iced cocktails of course! Well a little strawb daiquiri, moijito and margarita got us giggling and Lollipop and I tried on the lampshades and we all pretended to play pool without the balls. But we had fun and laughed ourselves silly. Photos of that night shall remain safely away from the Internet. Thankfully we didn't have a selfie stick or things may have gotten out of hand! The kids were none the wiser that we had sneaked out. 

Unfortunately we had to hit the road the next day and after some roadside shopping (every child needs a wild animal made out of clay) we discovered a blast-from-the-past - a Pikki. Do you remember Pikkis? They came in triangular shaped cardboard thingymajigs with condensed milk in them. Well here they are, so we had to have a pack each (according to cousin Phil.)

The drive home was fun. Logoff was thrilled to discover that he could sync his phone via Blue tooth to my car radio. We only agreed to let him use the Blue tooth if he played music we liked, so with loads of 80's music pumping at full volume, we ambled home and hit the sack. Cousin Phil and I shared my bed, so we stayed up talking waaaay into the night. Not a great strategy, because early the next morning I had to take them to the airport to say goodbye. Fortunately it was a quick drop-off otherwise the make-up I wasn't wearing would have smudged. So sad to say goodbye after such a fun time, not knowing when you're going to see them again.

Because Aunty Lollipop wanted to see everyone and not leave anyone out, she decided to have a "sip and see" - basically we provide the venue, food and drinks and friends pop in for a sip of something and to see Lollipop and her family. Becaue we were expecting ladies only, sis decided a tea party was in order so tea and coffee and juice were on the cards. The kids had a ball setting up the table and taking photos. We were all set for a high tea..... but when an ex boyfriend arrived with Strawberry Daiquiri mix and a bag of ice, the party got a whole lot more interesting! Who knew you could get Strawb Daiquiri in a ready-mixed box!! I need to spend more time in Tops apparently. I got the kids and uncle Kal busy on the ice crushing while I dusted off the appropriate glasses (strangely I had 12 perfect glasses, waiting to be filled with daiquiri mix, in my cupboard - how odd lol). We poured the delicious mix over the ice and I took a sip.... hmm. Ex boif was watching my reaction and asked "what's wrong?" I didn't want to upset him but it was seriously weak so I said "umm I think needs a bit more zing" to which he responded "no problem" and reached into his bag of goodies and pulled out a full bottle of Mainstay!! Awesome!!

The daquiri

The mix

I hastily topped up the glasses and took them out to the party. Oops I'd made too many, and I didn't want them to go to waste.... well after two of those (with extra zing) I was buzzing a bit. It was a good party, but being a tea party, I didn't expect people to stay for dinner so I had to razzle up something quickly (in my buzzed state) and then I wasn't quick enough, so we ended up eating 2kgs of Nigella's famous cocktail sauceages over the next few days!! If you haven't tried these yet, do yourself a favour! I also have half a bottle of Mainstay and some daiquiri mix here at home with me..... hmmmm.

Back to making it the best holiday ever, we ventured into, what I still call Town. There is an awesome science museum in Newtown Johannesburg called The Sci-bono Discovery Centre. I had taken Gramps and the kids there earlier this year and raved about it and my BLT were keen to show their cuzzies, so we hopped into the two cars and we were off on a day trip. The kids had a blast. The place really is cool with loads of things for kids to touch and see and interact with. I thought I had seen most of it the first time I went but there was more that I hadn't yet discovered. But by far the kids' favourite was building with cememt and bricks. They ended up building the whole building! We were put to work and had to help (gulp). Then once the entire building was built and the place was closing for the night, the kids shrieked with delight as they broke it down. Unfortunately when we told them they had to pickup all those bricks and concrete pieces and put them back where they found them, they were less thrilled.

Vietnamese wrap

Did I mention that Aunty Lollipop brought gifts? Well she did! Firstly she brought every type of gluten free product she could find. I'm sure my pressies weighted about 10kgs. She lugged across a 2kg bag of gluten free a.m.a.z.i.n.g. flour and every type of pasta she could find, but also chocolate.... ah the chocolate [swoon]. She also brought Vietnamese wraps and taught us how to make them with prawns, loads of veggies and noodles. They were divine and we laughed ourselves silly trying to make them the first few times. They literally turn from a hard plastic-like circle into the milk skin that firms on top of hot milk, within seconds of wetting them. This proved to be quite a challenge! Apparently it's like flipping pancakes - it's an acquired skill.

Growing beads were endless fun

Another awesome gift was my Bluetooth speakers so that I can pair my phone to the speakers in the house and tonk out my favorite classics for everyone to hear. When I wake up my BLT every morning, I scrummage around and find a good "wake up" song, put my cell phone in a cup and put the cup at the top of the stairs to make it really loud. Yes, try it, it really works! A cup gives you instant volume. Obviously Lollipop thought I deserved something a bit more classy haha.

Uncle Kal had the kids enthralled with his guitar playing. So amazing to have music in the house (apart from my cup lol.) The kids were super-spoiled with pressies from the US and even more from SA. It was awesome to watch the cuzzies playing together and the "slap yourself in the face with cream" game was surely the winner! As dinner guests arrived, they had to play Russian roulette with the "slapper" the kids shrieked as they watched their older cousins and then their uncle Ivan get covered in cream. So much laughter!

Who is Jack?

Apart from his birthday and guitar-playing, my favorite brother-in-law Kal was my ultimate hero - OMG was he fantastic - totally opposite to our family, but in a good way. We like to sit and chat and catch up and he likes to be busy 24/7. Well did I love that quality. Firstly he noticed that the tyre on my car wasn't looking good, so the day before our trip to the Drakensburg, he took my whole wheel shaft apart because the bolts had been stripped. He went to the shop, got a new bolt and reassembled the thing so it was safe. He even left me a note so I wouldn't drive. 

When we got back from our holiday, Kal got stuck into the house. Not having a man around the house for the past 16 months, had taken its toll so Kal become hubby #2. He went mad fixing and sorting and painting and cauking everywhere, yes cauking. I had no idea what he was talking about when he showed me areas that needed cauk. Eventually I just burst out laughing and asked him what the hell is cauking? Apparently it is silicone seal. With Kal's American accent it sounded like he was saying "this area needs some cock." Even once I knew what he was saying, I couldn't stop snorting every time he said it and eventually he reverted to calling it silicone to stop me being silly haha. I wanted to go with him to Builder's Warehouse to be there when he asked them where they stock their cauk, but he wouldn't let me - darn! So while we had a blast, Kal was having his own fun taking my entire kitchen sink out and measuring for new shelving, changing light bulbs, painting, sanding, waging war on the ants, the list goes on and on. What an amazing guy!

Some serious cousin baking
going on here

Needless to say, the three weeks sped by in a happy blur and the dreaded day arrived...... they needed to leave for the airport at 4pm. From about midday everytime we looked at each other we cried. We focused on getting stuff packed and sorting out things and cried.  People started dropping in to say goodbye and the rush was on. What felt like minutes later, we were trying to be brave in front of the kids but we weren't doing a very good job. 

Crumpets

As quickly as they had arrived, they were gone. Tomato started to cry. Bacon and Lettuce just hugged me and we stayed like that, waving goodbye and just being sad. Then we went back into the house to listen to some music.

Later that night I got a pressie under my pillow. I cried again.

People always ask how I coped with four more people in my house for three weeks and I respond by saying "I wish they'd stayed three more!" Such great memories.

Next meet up: Hawaii

Lettuce was not happy.
They're gone :-(